Business News
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- Written by: California Farm Bureau
The program has a website where beginning farmers and ranchers with one to 10 years of farming and ranching experience in California may enroll for free in the mentorship program.
Farmers and ranchers interested in serving as mentors may also sign up via the webpage. Mentors are financially compensated for providing six hours of mentoring services to beginning farmers and ranchers.
The program will allow 200 beginning farmers to be paired up with mentor farmers and ranchers with more than 10 years of experience. Half of program participants must be specialty crop growers. Under program funding requirements, priority consideration will be given to socially disadvantaged farmers and military veterans in farming and ranching.
Mentoring will focus on a range of topics, including market access, climate stresses, navigating the regulatory system, production management and business aspects of farming in California.
The program will also provide educational workshops that offer insights on regulations for farming and ranching in California.
Additionally, participants will learn about financial incentives, including grant opportunities that can help them fund conservation management practices and climate-smart agriculture.
They will be exposed to resources from the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources and UC Cooperative Extension.
Grant funding for this project was made possible through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
“This program is designed to bring our agricultural community even closer together as a family through mentoring opportunities,” said Dr. Amrith Gunasekara, science and research director for the California Bountiful Foundation. “Mentoring the new generation of farmers and ranchers by experienced farmers and ranchers will ensure agriculture and food security is sustained into the future.”
The California Farm Bureau works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of more than 26,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of 5.8 million Farm Bureau members.
- Details
- Written by: California Department of Food and Agriculture
The session, titled “Defining Regenerative Agriculture for State Policies and Programs,” will take place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22.
The webinar link is here.
Spanish interpretation services will be available.
The listening session will begin with an update including summaries of the previous public listening sessions and the first work group session, which took place on Jan. 31.
Recordings of previous sessions may be found on the CDFA website.
The California State Board of Food and Agriculture, as advisory body to the Governor and CDFA Secretary, is positioned to advise on how the state’s farmers, ranchers and consumers may be best served by agricultural policies in the state.
Incorporating a definition of regenerative agriculture for state policies and programs provides a science-based criterion for the designation or recognition of the term “regenerative” in agriculture-related policies of the state.
By defining “regenerative agriculture” and its associated practices, we are working to formalize holistic methods of farming that are designed to protect, sustain and enhance natural resources on our farms and farming communities throughout California.
The public listening sessions will help provide recommendations on a definition of “regenerative agriculture” and inform the State Board's process.
Updates on the public listening sessions and the process for defining “regenerative agriculture” are available at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/RegenerativeAg/.
Written public comments can be sent to
- Details
- Written by: Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
“We are excited to bring an online method for licensees to apply and pay for the most common application submitted to the department,” said Licensing Division Chief Jaime Taylor. “Catering authorizations are used for selling and serving alcohol at many types of events, from weddings to large scale music festivals. Our new online applications will make the process much simpler and faster, providing an enhanced service to Californians who are applying for a catering authorization.”
Catering authorizations allow licensees with an active caterer’s permit to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption during events approved by ABC. Applicants must have an ABC Online Services account with the License Administrator role. Applicants can submit their application, pay with a credit card or eCheck, and upload required documents or approvals.
To qualify for the online authorization, the event must be more than five days but not more than 60 days from the application date. Users can submit and pay for events online for up to three consecutive days if each day has the same number of attendees and hours during which alcohol is served. If the dates are not consecutive, or if the number of attendees and hours are not the same, each day must be submitted and paid for as a separate event.
There is a limit of 36 catered events per year at any given location. This limit applies to all Caterer’s Permits (Type 58), including those held by club licenses (Type 50, 51, and 52). An exception may be made to exceed 36 catered events if the licensee can clearly establish that additional events are in the best interest of the State and necessary to satisfy substantial public demand. Exceptions can be requested at a local ABC District Office.
For more information about online catering authorization applications, please visit https://www.abc.ca.gov/licensing/license-forms/caterers-permits/.
ABC is a department of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency.
- Details
- Written by: Employment Development Department
Benefit payments will no longer be issued on Bank of America debit cards. The EDD previously announced it was reaching out to its customers with related timelines and information to assist them in transitioning to Money Network Cards.
“Through our partnership with Money Network, we are enhancing how we deliver benefits to our customers,” said EDD Director Nancy Farias. “That includes introducing a direct deposit option later this year – the fastest, most secure method for receiving payments.”
Receiving Money Network cards
Individuals with active claims who qualified to receive benefit payments after January 15 were mailed an unfunded Money Network Card in preparation for the transition. It may take up to 14 business days from the date of qualification for the new card to arrive. Individuals who don’t receive their card after that period may contact Money Network at 1-800-684-7051.
Additional information about the Money Network Card is available at moneynetwork.com/edd in 21 of California’s top spoken languages. This includes instructions on how to activate the card, how to avoid fees and locate surcharge-free ATMs in local areas, FAQs, and translations of important “Terms and Fees” in all supported languages.
Customers can choose their preferred language by selecting the globe icon at the top of the webpage.
Closing Bank of America cards
April 15 is the last day individuals will be able to use their Bank of America debit card in this transition. Customers are encouraged to use or transfer any remaining balance on their debit cards before that date, or submit a request to Bank of America to be issued a check in the amount of remaining funds. Visit Debit Card for more information.
Help fight against fraud
The EDD will never request personal information by text message, email, or on social media. Text messages asking to activate a benefits debit card by selecting a link are scams. The EDD’s text messages only link to websites that include “edd.ca.gov.”
The department encourages customers to remain vigilant and safeguard their financial and personal information. Visit Help Fight Fraud for tips on how to avoid scams.
Upcoming service updates
Later this year, the EDD is set to implement a new direct deposit option for benefit payments. Details about this option will be provided in upcoming communications.
This service improvement is part of EDDNext, a multi-year transformation effort to improve the EDD customer experience — updating technologies and self-service choices, streamlining forms and notices, and enhancing staff efficiency through updated policies and procedures.
The goal is to make the EDD experience for customers a smoother and faster one.
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